Weekend Poll Results: Fewer Assistants Say They’re Workaholics, but …

… does that necessarily mean assistants have this whole life-work balance ideal in control? With thanks to all who participated, here are your responses to my question: Are you a workaholic?

A lower percentage identified as workaholics this year

For the second consecutive year, I asked readers to consider whether you’re high performers, workaholics, or whether you’ve achieved a happy medium.

Some good news: more readers are identifying this year as high performers (36%) or having reached a happy medium (32%) than the 22% of you who identify as workaholics. 10% of respondents chose my somewhat tongue in cheek option, “What’s the difference?”

This represents a significant change from the 2017 results, when 48% of respondents self-identified as workaholics. What, though, do readers believe constitutes being a high performer or having achieved that happy medium? Read on.

And yet …

When I asked readers how frequently you check and respond to email messages from home, the numbers suggest that – at least for a hefty percentage of readers – there’s little separation of business and personal lives.

While 22% of this year’s respondents (down from 25% in 2017) reported that you rarely or never check email from home, a whopping 37% of readers reported that you typically check business email from home every single day. I know what that’s like; I used to do this myself. More than half of this year’s respondents, a full 56% of you, reported checking business emails from home four or more days a week.

The majority check email before leaving home

A full 63% of respondents reported that this is typically part of your morning routine. Almost four out of every 10 respondents (39%) also reported that you check emails during your commutes. I suspect that, if it wasn’t for the fact that many readers drive themselves to work, this percentage would be higher.

How long is your work day?

Almost one out of every five respondents this year reported typically spending somewhere between seven and eight hours in the office each day. That 20% represents a 7% decline from last year’s numbers.

40% of you reported that you typically spend eight to nine hours a day in your office, with another 29% pegging their time in the office at nine to 10 hours daily. 12% of you reported that it’s typical for you to spend more than 10 hours of each week day at the office. On a positive note, that’s an improvement over the 27% of you who reported 10+ hour work days in 2017. While I neglected to include this question in 2018, more than 50% of 2017’s respondents reported that you and your employer’s cleaning and/or security staff know one another’s names and/or faces.

Do you work during your personal time?

31% of respondents reported that they rarely or never work from home outside office hours, up a bit from 28.5% in 2017. For 15% of this year’s respondents, though, working from home outside office hours daily is the norm. A full 23% of you, down from 33% in 2017, reported doing so 11 or more days a month.

How frequently do you work longer than the traditional work day?

It’s no surprise that not a single respondent selected the “never” option. Almost one in five of you (18%), though, reported that you rarely work longer than the traditional work day. That’s up from 4% in 2017.

At the other end of the spectrum, 15% of respondents (down from 27% in 2017) reported doing so almost daily. In fact, a full 25% of respondents reported that they work longer than the traditional work day 11 or more days a month.

The longest day …

14% of this year’s reported never having worked past 6:00 p.m. That marks an increase from 6% who were able to make the same statement in 2017.

Half of all respondents (compared to 53% in 2017) reported that they latest they’ve ever worked was somewhere between 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. Do the math or check the data below, and you’ll realise that this means 36% of this year’s respondents have worked later than 11:00 p.m. … with one in 10 respondents having worked past midnight.

Why such long hours?

Meetings and events combined typically account for 39% of respondents’ long hours; you’ll see the breakdown in the data below. For 61% of you, workload – including unexpected projects or situations – is behind these time commitments.

Are you compensated for these additional hours?

Yes … and no. I asked readers if you’re compensated for working beyond one’s stated schedule. 20% of you reported that you do receive financial compensation. Almost half this year’s respondents, 46%, reported that you work these additional hours without any impact upon your compensation.

54% of respondents reported that you’re compensated in time off, but not everyone takes that time. 21% of all respondents do accrue and take time off, but another 13% of respondents accrue time off and wind up not using it. I can hear those people’s thought processes as I write; if you take that time off, you’ll be behind the eight ball yet again and wind up working longer hours to compensate after you return. Am I right?

Let’s not forget about life-work balance

I cross-referenced most of the data below with peoples’ self-identification as workaholics as opposed to high performers, having reached a happy medium or my cheeky “What’s the difference?” option. I’ll share some of those results in my next Weekend Poll, in which we’ll focus on achieving balance and establishing and maintaining boundaries.

In the interim, have a look the data below for the results on this particular poll.